Reviews

Freekstyle

Every gameplay features I've described thus far, by the way, are virtually identical to every other EA Sports Big game, with two exceptions: the friend / rival AI system introduced in Tricky has been dumped, and you aren't able to push around your opponents -- a bizarre omission in a game with such an aggressive atmosphere. I understand why the Big boys doesn't want to mess with a proven gameplay formula, but I haven't seen a franchise milked this hard without any significant gameplay improvements since Eidos yanked on Lara Croft's yobbos for five years running.

And speaking of Lara Croft, one of the eight real-life racers in Freekstyle is Leeann Tweeden, who makes it into Freekstyle by virtue of having appeared on an extreme-sports show called Bluetorch TV. Ms. Tweeden, who supplied her character's in-game voice clips, is a fitness model, a former Hooters employee, and a lingerie-wearer for Frederick's of Hollywood.

Leeann Tweeden -- chick racer extraordinaire.

The 30-year-old Tweeden is unquestionably the hottest video game chick of the year, but not even her flawless form can ease the pain of running the same race a dozen times or more. Freekstyle is the first racing game I've ever played where you're punished for being in first place. Indeed, a single mistake on the final lap means instant defeat.

I eventually came up with a method of winning Freekstyle races in a way remarkably similar to the method I used in Super Mario Kart. I pull off a bunch of tricks until my Freekout meter is almost full. Then I continue to race without doing any tricks at all, staying near the middle of the pack, knowing the rubber-band AI won't let me fall too far behind. About two-thirds of the way through the third and final lap, I fill the Freekout meter and merrily boost to the finish before the rubber-band AI has time to snap on me. This method was hardly foolproof, of course, but it seemed to work more than anything else I tried.

Freekstyle's level designs are almost as frustrating as the AI. Each of the half-dozen tracks is impossibly huge and filled with second-shaving shortcuts, in the Big tradition, but there are too many annoying midair obstacles -- especially in a game where you're airborne for so much of each race.

He's about to fall into where most of us end up anyway.

Freekstyle's graphics are typically Big, as colorful and stylized as anything in SSX and SSX Tricky, but without Tricky's frequent slowdown; on the other hand, certain ground textures are unfortunately butt-ugly. There's a variety of trash-talking pre-race cutscenes, and some great facial animations in the racer-select screens. The soundtrack, primarily supplied by a production / remix group called The Humble Brothers, has the hip-hop "flava" that the kids seem to love. The in-game voice clips are very entertaining, and the sound effects are also solid -- not even the constant whine of the bike engines grated on me.

It's a testament to the addictive nature of Freekstyle that I continued to play the game despite its obvious shortcomings. The controls are tight, the tricks are killer, the tracks are insane, and sweet Leeann is a sight to behold. However, it's definitely time for EA to improve the Big formula -- I know just where they should start.